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Circles within circles: translation and analyses of selected short stories by Jose Emilio Pacheco

University of British Columbia

This thesis is a detailed examination of three short stories written by the Mexican author and poet, Jose Emilio Pacheco, selected from two of his collections: El viento distante and El principio del placer. I chose "Virgen de los veranos" and "Parque de diversiones" from the former collection, and "La fiesta brava" from the latter. There are two main focuses in my work; one is the translation of the three short stories into English and the other is the analyses of the stories. In addition, as an aid to placing the stories contextually within the history of Mexican literature, I include a chapter on the development of the Mexican short story. In this first chapter I provide a survey of the short story's evolution throughout Mexican literary history. I briefly document the roots of the Mexican short story in the pre-Hispanic era and I give an overview of its development throughout the subsequent centuries up to the present times. In the second chapter I explain the general and the specific strategies I employed in translating the stories into English, providing examples wherever possible. The following three chapters are dedicated to a detailed analysis of each short story; I include discussions of all aspects pertaining to theme, plot, character development, and structure. Pacheco's treatment of time is of particular interest and I deal with this both in the individual analyses and also in the final chapter. His representation of time is reminiscent of the Aztec cyclical concept of time, in which a belief in repetition is stressed. In the final chapter I identify the common elements seen throughout the three stories and attempt to interpret the messages they impart to the reader. The author presents a view of humankind largely centered around the opposition, within society and within the natural world, between the dominators and the dominated or the oppressors and the oppressed. His characters, both human and animal, are often representations of both. His stories reflect a belief in the endless repetitiveness of life, and he uses myth and history as the common elements in presenting his ideas and imparting his message to the reader. "Virgen de los veranos" (Summertime Virgin), "La fiesta brava" (The Bullfight), and "Parque de diversiones" (The Amusement Park), in their translated forms, follow the final chapter and conclude the work.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-04-28

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7642

Hispanic Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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